Sunburst in the Darkness
by Saphire282
Summary: When Kenma's life hit rock bottom, he thought he had no one in the world to turn to. However, when he reunites with Hinata in a chance encounter, things start to become a little brighter in his world.
1. Destiny?

It's too noisy. It's always too noisy. All the sighs, all the hushed conversations, the sounds of many bodies tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable in small cots that was never made for comfort. Kenma hated this place. He could never sleep. After two years of living in a homeless shelter, he still could never get comfortable enough to really sleep. It's too noisy, it's too depressing, it's too crowded. He always felt like someone was watching him. Not that anyone in particular would have any reason to watch Kenma. It was just a feeling, like he was trapped with so many people, he couldn't help but feel watched. So he once again found himself lying still, trying to tune out the world around him until sunrise came.

As soon as those precious rays of light greeted the windows, he quickly rose from bed to go get some breakfast, and then rushed out the door. He didn't exactly have anywhere in mind to go. He mostly just wanted to be anywhere but there. Breathing the outdoor air always seemed to temporarily lighten his spirits. But also he just wanted to be in a world where no one saw him as a diagnosis. "Socially withdrawn." "Video Game Addict." "Avoids Reality." Everyone working in the shelter treats him as though his whole existence is nothing more than the list of problems kept on his file. He supposes it's a step up from most of his roommates who are judged by their rap sheet, but still, he misses the days when people who met him just thought he was a little quiet compared to his peers.

Kenma's feet started in the direction of the library. He spent most days in there. Plus the librarian who's there on weekdays usually packs extra lunch to share with him. Kenma was pretty sure that she had a bit of a crush on him, but he wasn't in a position where he could afford the morals to turn her kindness down. He started to wonder what chapter he left off in the series of fantasy books he was working on, right when a near sprinting body collided with him on the sidewalk.

"Oww.." Kenma whined, slowly getting up from being knocked backwards. As he sat up he noticed that whoever knocked him down was male, kind of short, and had violent orange hair which went in all directions.

"Oh my god! I am so sorry! I'm such a scatterbrain sometimes. I slept in and I'm about to be late for class." The boy reached down to take Kenma's hand, when his eyes lit with realization. "Kenma! Oh my god is that you? Now I'm really sorry Kenma. Are you alright?"

"Hi Shoyo." Kenma answered as plainly as possible. "I'll be alright. You should probably go get to class."

Hinata looked to be pouting. "You haven't answered my texts in like FOREVER Kenma. Did I do something wrong?"

Kenma shook his head. "No, I just lost my phone."

"Well that sucks. Can you give me your new number then?"

"I don't have one."

"What? Why not?"

"I can't afford a phone right now…"

Hinata blinked. He took a moment to look Kenma up and down. Kenma cringed. He knew that look. That look as people notice that you're hardly holding it together anymore. Their faces then fill with pity, then they look away because they suddenly feel bad for even looking at you in the first place.

"Lots of things have happened since high school haven't they Kenma?" Hinata asked in a hushed tone.

Kenma flinched. "I'm just going through a rough time."

There it was. The lie. The so well practiced lie he tells anyone familiar he runs into. This is just a rutt. It was easier to play pretend that he was going to get out of this. No one needed to know that this rutt was his life for the past two years, and it looked to continue on till the end of his days.

Unlike everyone else though, Hinata wouldn't just swallow that lie, and turn away. He quickly dug into his pockets and shoved a key card into Kenma's hand.

"You know where the dorms are for this university right? I live in the Greene building, room 7C, I don't have any roommate so just go in alright? Feel free to use anything in there."

Kenma looked down at the card in his hand, then back up to his friend. "But Sho..."

"I really gotta go to class now alright? We'll talk when I get back. Bye!" Hinata quickly waved, and then began sprinting again in the direction he was going before he and Kenma collided.

Kenma watched the violent orange hair on Hinata's head seem to weave all over the sidewalk as Hinata did his best to make it to class without causing anyone else injury. After about 30 seconds, Kenma lost sight of the color as Hinata mixed in with the crowds up ahead. It was only then that Kenma looked down at the blue key card that was shoved into his hand. He brought the card up to his face and stared at it while whispering to himself,

"What should I do now?"

* * *

 **Hi everyone! I got a new job that has a lot of downtime so I've been trying to use it to get some writing done. Also I've been watching a lot of Haikyuu lately, and for some reason this is the only pairing I've found myself drawn towards. This stories rating is mainly because the themes are pretty depressing, so I'd rather error on the safe side.  
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 **If you have any questions/comments, please leave me a review~**


	2. Waiting

Hinata's dorm was, very much Hinata's style. There were volleyball posters taped to the walls, and volleyball magazines scattered about the room mixed in with the other clutter of books, papers, and small clothes baskets carrying mountains of unfolded clothes just waiting to spill over if anyone had the misfortune to just slightly bump into said baskets. Kenma couldn't help but be amused, though he's never been to Hinata's house back in his highschool days, he always had a hunch this is exactly how Hinata's room would look like. Just something about Hinata's personality that never inspired the feeling of "organized."

Kenma still wasn't quite sure what to do now that he was here. He mostly came because he felt it would be rude to simply take Hinata's key card, and then be on his way. Though really, it'd be Hinata's fault for rushing off like that, not giving him a chance to decline the offer to come over. He had planned to drop the card off on a table and go, but really, with the current state of the room, what were the chances of Hinata ever finding it?

With nothing to do, and no idea when Hinata was going to return home, Kenma decided to make himself useful by collecting the papers and magazines off the floor, and shuffling them into neat piles to be placed on Hinata's homework desk. He then took a discarded night shirt from Hinata's bed, and used it to dust off a shelf from the book case, before placing all the textbooks inside.

He wanted to work on the mountains of clothes next, but he wasn't entirely sure which basket held clean clothes, and which basket held dirty, also he felt that it would be odd if he started sniffing Hinata's clothes to check. So he very carefully moved the baskets to press against the wall, and then left the room to ask some boys in the hall if they happened to have a broom. They pointed Kenma in a direction of a cleaning supply closet open to all tenants of the floor. Kenma returned to the room with a broom, dust pan, duster, a rag, and a bottle of surface cleaner.

An hour later Kenma fell backwards onto Hinata's bed, letting out a huff of breath. Cleaning was exhausting, but at least the room looked to be habitable, and less of a landmine area to anyone trying to cross the floors. Kenma wiped off the sweat from his forehead, and figured to himself that he could probably use a shower. He didn't bother to stick around the shelter long enough to get one in that morning, and now that he's worked up a sweat he was probably starting to smell.

"I don't have a change of clothes though…" Kenma muttered to himself, sitting up and looking suspiciously at the two mountains of clothes he had shoved against the wall. It wasn't something he should even think about, he scolded himself. Even when someone tells you that you can use anything, there's lines being crossed when you change into another guy's clothes, especially when he isn't around to say whether it's alright or not. Kenma wouldn't even consider such a thing if he was going back to the shelter, but since he was still waiting for Hinata to return, maybe he should clean up, present himself a little less disheveled to his friend. Kenma sighed and stood up muttering to himself "I can't believe I'm actually doing this." And then he glanced back at the door for a long moment, hoping no one is going to burst in the room right as he's picking up Hinata's clothes, and sniffing them to ascertain their freshness.

After he picked out a shirt and sweatpants that he was fairly certain to be clean, he made his way down the hall to the showers. It was still late morning, a time when most students were either already in class, or enjoying sleeping in, so Kenma was able to fully enjoy a long hot shower in solitude. Probably the first one he was able to truly enjoy since he's left home. Once the shower ended, and Kenma changed into Hinata's clothes, he paused to wipe the steam off the mirror and look at himself.

"Yes Shoyo, lots has happened since high school." Kenma whispered in a melancholy tone as he allowed himself to really take a look at the effect the last two years has done to him. He could no longer afford hair dye, and didn't trust anyone in the shelter to cut his hair, so it simply grew out to the point where the brown section of his hair growing from the roots was just as long as blonde section which used to predominately cover his head.

He was also thinner in an unhealthy sort of way. For a while he was rarely in the mood to eat, and completely stopping athletics had caused him to lose the muscle definition in his chest and arms.

But the most depressing is just how aged he looked. His eye's looked to have lost all life in them, and the dark bags under his eyes didn't help the situation in the least bit. Just looking at himself was difficult, and he remembered why he no longer spent much time in front of mirrors.

Kenma returned to the room to find it was still empty. By now a couple hours had passed by, and Kenma wondered how many classes Hinata will go to before coming back to the dorms. It would of been nice to have been given a timetable of when to expect him back since Kenma didn't exactly have much to do except wait in the meantime. Kenma sat on the edge of Hinata's bed, and stared blankly at his surroundings for a few moments before allowing himself to fall back, and stare at the ceiling.

"I guess it's alright if I sleep for a little while" Kenma mused and then adjusted himself to rest his head on a pillow, and pull one of the sheets over himself. Yes, Kenma was laying in a cot, but it was a cot covered in pillows and blankets and other soft personal effects. Yes, it was still noisy, but the noises didn't upset Kenma anymore. Boys running down hallways. Someone groaning about homework to their roommate in the next room over. Just normal people living normal lives. A life he'd probably be participating in right now if it wasn't for the incident that changed his life forever.

Even though Kenma still felt like an intruder in this room, as he was slowly falling asleep he couldn't help but notice that this is the first time in a while he actually felt safe going to bed. Being in Hinata's room almost felt like home.


	3. This is the weight that I bear

When Kenma woke, the first thing he noticed was that there were no longer rays of light coming from the window near the bed. He jolted up, worried that he might be breaking curfew, and won't be allowed back into the shelter until morning. "What time is it!?"

Hinata looked up from the paper he was scribbling on to look at Kenma for a moment, before glancing down at his watch. "It's 9:30 pm."

Kenma sighed, and rubbed his head. "Crap. Now I'm locked out for the night. I can't believe I slept that long."

"You looked like you needed the rest. Sorry for not waking you. Also what kind of home locks you out at night?" Hinata tilted his head in curiosity.

"The place I stay at Shoyo, it has a curfew."

Hinata grinned. "Then just spend the night here. I don't have classes tomorrow, we can stay up and have a sleepover."

"If you don't have classes tomorrow, then why are you doing homework now? You never struck me as the type to be diligently studying Shoyo."

Hinata grimaced at Kenma's comment. "I can be a good student when I want to be! Besides, I was trying to keep quiet so you could sleep."

"How long have you been back?"

"About five hours."

"Ah, sorry about that."

Hinata shrugged. "It's alright. Besides, I practically have everything done for the week now." Hinata beamed a sunny smile. "You should stay over more often. You organize things way better than I do."

Kenma shrugged. "So why'd you invite me over anyway? Was there something you wanted to talk about?"

"Mmn, nothing in particular. I just wanted to see you." Hinata answered earnestly. "When you stopped answering your texts, I asked around to your old teammates and no one knew where you were or what happened to you. I was really worried. So when I bumped into you on the street I didn't want to lose the opportunity to spend time with you again."

"Oh." Kenma looked down. "I'm sorry for worrying you. I've just been going through a lot recently. I'm okay, really."

Hinata stood up from his work desk, and crossed the room to sit on the edge of the bed, next to Kenma. "What happened anyway? Is this because of the accident?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Kenma answered, his face turning pained.

"Lev is really sorry you know. He told me he's tried to apologize to you multiple times."

"There's nothing to apologize for, it was an accident."

"Then why haven't you let him know it's alright?"

"Because it's not alright!" Kenma bursted out. "You don't know what it's like Shoyo! You weren't there! You didn't watch your best friend become a living vegetable at a hospital. You weren't there when both of his parents are holding YOUR hands as they sob, telling the doctors to take him off life support. You expect me to look in the face of the guy that killed him, and tell him it's bloody alright?"

"He didn't mean to though."

"I know that! He swerved to avoid hitting a freaking cat. It's such a Lev move it's almost funny in a twisted way. Of course he almost gets himself killed because he doesn't want to hit a cat. But why did Kuroo have to pay the ultimate price for his heroism? Why'd Kuroo have to be riding with him that day?! God I just wish Lev never learned to drive in the first place."

Kenma was shaking, and sobbing by now. Hinata leaned over and wrapped his arms around him, pulling Kenma in a tight embrace. Kenma pressed his face into Hinata's shoulder, and continued to sob. "It's alright, you just need to get all these feelings out."

Kenma continued to cry until there were no more tears that could be shed. He stayed pressed to Hinata as he continued to shake, and try to regain his breath in painful gulps. "It's not that easy Shoyo. When Kuroo died I lost everything. I dropped out of school. I couldn't get a job. I stayed in my room all day and night. I didn't want to do anything, or see anyone. My parents kicked me out because they couldn't stand my moping anymore. My life is crap and I have no way out."

"We'll find a way out. I'm sure we will Kenma." Hinata said soothingly.

"This isn't your problem Shoyo. You don't have to fix my life for me."

"But I **want** to help you!"

Kenma pulled away from Hinata's embrace, reaching up to rub one of his eyes. "Well, it's kind of you, it really is, but shouldn't you be focusing on school, and volleyball? You still play, right Shoyo?"

"Of course I play!" Hinata said proudly. "But that doesn't mean I can't make time to help you."

"I have to return to the shelter during the evenings though. It sounds like you're busy during most the daytime."

"Hmm… that is a bit of an issue" Hinata sat with a very concentrated look on his face for a moment. "Kind of sucks that you're under curfew."

"Trust me, I'd move out if I could." Kenma replied sullenly.

"Then why don't you do that?" Hinata asked with a smile.

"Do what?"

"Move out!"

"And go where Shoyo? I don't have anywhere else to stay."

"Why not stay here?"

Kenma snorted, feeling slightly amused. "This is school property Shoyo, you can't just invite a roomie to stay here."

"What's it matter to the school? I haven't had a roommate all semester, there's a free bed just sitting here."

"I understand what you're saying Shoyo, but this room still belongs to the school. Without their permission, me staying here could get me arrested, and you expelled."

"Well maybe we can get their permission then!"

"Do you really think the dean of this school will let a student take in a homeless person?"

"Actually I was just thinking to ask the dorm supervisor. He'd be the only one that'd even catch you here anyway."

Kenma shrugged, his face still doubtful. "I guess you could try. But Shoyo, why are you doing this all for me?"

"What do you mean? We're friends Kenma. I want you to live a happy life. If the situation was reversed, wouldn't you do whatever you could to make things better?"

Kenma blinked "Well yeah, of course I would. But I really don't think I'm worth the trouble."

"Of course you are Kenma! You're very special to me."

Kenma looked down bashfully, and scratched his cheek. "T-Thanks Shoyo, you're special to me too."


End file.
